A former teacher standing for UKIP in the general election in Bristol has sparked fury from some of his former pupils – for controversial tweets about Hitler, gay people and Islam.

Ian Kealey, who is standing for UKIP in the Bristol South constituency, has been branded ‘islamophobic, homophobic and paranoid’ by one former pupil, 15 years after he taught her maths at a school near Bristol.

The candidate, who taught at Nailsea School in the early 2000s and now runs a guesthouse, hit back and said there was ‘nothing in the claims’ made against him.

In one tweet, he compared gay people marching against Islamophobia to ‘Jews marching for Hitler’.

Ian Kealey tweet about Jews marching for Hitler

In another, he shared a tweet from a neo-fascist twitter account called ‘Defend Europa’, which claimed in 2017 the message from liberals was ‘Die white people they’re our countries now’.

Ian Kealey retweet of Defend Europa

Another tweet challenged sitting Labour MP Karin Smyth – who he is up against in the June 8 election – to not let Swedish MPs ‘deny epidemic of rape and riot in Sweden’.

Read More

And other tweets dipped into the ‘politics’ of the way police with domestic violence. “We have a two-tier police ‘service’ in UK,” he wrote.

“One law for women victims (immediate arrest) and zilch for men victims.

UKIP Ian Kealey tweet about domestic violence

“On the word of a woman police will arrest any man she accuses no evidence required,” he said. “Grossly unfair.”

Another tweet, the UKIP candidate retweeted was a meme from listing ‘definitions’ of ‘racist’, ‘bigot’, ‘homophobe’, ‘Fascist’, ‘Islamophobe’, ‘Misogynist’, ‘Nazi’ and ‘Hitler’ – with the words defined as ‘A person who wins an argument with a Liberal’.

Ian Kealey retweet about Liberals

The tweets angered Emma Rowlands, who Mr Kealey taught Maths 15 years ago in Nailsea. “I remember Ian Kealey as being pleasant enough, and he was a more than adequate maths teacher,” she said.

“So it’s a shame that, in my opinion, over the past 15 years or so, he’s evolved into an Islamophobic, homophobic, paranoid Brexiter with a measly social media following and even tinier intellect. Still, good luck in the election, Ian,” she added.

Mr Kealey is one of only two UKIP candidates standing in the ten constituencies in the Bristol area. The party fielded candidates in all ten seats in 2015.

Read More

Karin Smyth declined to comment on the content of Mr Kealey’s Twitter feed, but the candidate himself launched a defence of his social media comments.

“I'm pleased to see my tweets are being read, but a pity that in some cases the purpose is only to try to bring me down in some way! I don't think there is anything in the claims,” he said.

“I am surprised that you highlight the one from Ray Elliott,” he told the Bristol Post.

“This is ridiculing Liberals. Liberals don't like to lose arguments. Unfortunately, they often lose arguments because they don't have very good counter-arguments.

“Instead of losing graciously, Liberals tend to hurl misguided insults at their opponent. In UKIP we are used to Liberals, and others in established parties, and dare I say the MSM, hurling insults at us when they are losing arguments.

“So the black box, as I hope you can now see, shows up the kind of insults we in UKIP receive because of the poor quality of the cases attempted against us. We try to put ourselves above that level of debate,” he added.